"I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.

I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.

I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes.

The world is not static, and the status quo is not sacred. But we cannot allow changes in the status quo in violation of the Charter of the United Nations by such methods as coercion, or by such subterfuges as political infiltration. In helping free and independent nations to maintain their freedom, the United States will be giving effect to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations."

Arms Race: A competition for the accumulation and sophistication of weapons.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): Originally established as the Committee for European Economic Cooperation (CEEC), its purpose was manage the financial aid program (also known as the Marshall Plan) given by the United States to Western European countries. In 1961, it transformed into the OECD, which is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to further economic development. Its original members include all the non-communist beneficiaries of the Marshall Plan in Western Europe, plus the United States.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO): Intergovernmental military alliance established between Western European and North American countries on April 4, 1949.

Original members of
the OECD (1961)

Original members of
NATO (1949)

Austria

Belgium

Denmark

France

West Germany

Greece

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Norway

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Turkey

United Kingdom

United States

Canada

Belgium

Denmark

France

Iceland

Italy

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Norway

Portugal

United Kingdom

United States

Canada

McCarthyism: The practice of making systematic accusations without evidence. In the 1950s in the United States, it was a consequence of the Red Scare, which was a period of heightened paranoia towards perceived Soviet influence in American institutions and the suspected presence of Soviet spies in the American government.